By Matthew Wald
The New York Times
Energy Secretary Steven Chu will step down soon, possibly by the end of the month, he said in a statement on Friday, ending a four-year tenure in which he
concentrated on fostering research and development of clean energy technologies, and opponents pilloried him over stimulus loans that went bad.
President Obama said in a statement that Dr. Chu “brought to the Energy Department a unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy.” He praised Dr. Chu for expanded support of research into “groundbreaking innovations that could transform our energy future.”
Dr. Chu presided over a surge in expenditures in which the Obama administration tried to use the Energy Department to stimulate the economy and advance both energy efficiency and clean energy production. Dr. Chu said that some of the money would be used to “swing for the fences,” promoting a variety of ventures, of which some were certain to fail. But the successes would more than compensate for the failures, he said, especially in research and development, where breakthroughs could nurture new industries.
As expected, some of the research has failed, and much remains a work in progress. One of the manufacturing failures was Solyndra, a company with an innovative design for solar cells that got a $535 million loan guarantee but built a product too expensive for the market.
